In Unexpected Places
by Newgirl78
Summary: A series of one shots with all the characters that we never get to see.
1. Chapter 1

Sighing heavily, Cece dropped on to one of the bar stools and placed her clutch on the counter. With a frown, she removed her "Velvet Rabbit" hat and grimaced. Her eyes paused for a moment on the red embroidery before she did her best to flatten it and hide it underneath her purse.

Bob had seen Cece come into the bar dozens of times before, but she had never looked so forlorn. He slowly finished drying the glass in his hand as his eyes studied her carefully. He thought he had overheard Nick and Jess talking about her new job the other night, but he never would have guessed it to be at someplace like the "Velvet Rabbit". He frowned at how sad she looked sitting there by herself, and grabbed a glass from above the bar. He knew exactly what she'd order on a night like this. Stopping in front of her, he placed a Long Island Ice Tea just within reach of her long, perfectly manicured fingers.

Cece glanced up, expecting Nick to be standing there. She blinked emphatically, startled. "Oh, hi."

"Hey. You looked like you could use one." Bob stayed a few steps back from the bar, passing the towel between his hands nervously.

Cece sighed, nodding. "Thank you." After taking several large sips, she smiled at him over the rim of the glass as she placed it back on the bar. "How did you know?"

"Oh, about the drink?" He glanced between Cece and the glass, shrugging his shoulders. "You're Jess' friend, right?"

Cece squinted her eyes slightly. "Yeah. Cece."

"Bob." He pointed to himself, then cringed. Or course she probably knew _his_ name.

"I know." She let out a small laughed, but continued to smile. "So...I haven't seen you lately. I thought maybe you quit."

"And give up all this?" He gestured his hands in a large arc above his head and rolled his eyes.

Laughing again, Cece began sliding her glass along the surface of the bar, a small ring of condensation trailing behind. "You sound about as thrilled as I am with my new job."

Bob swallowed hard, not sure what to say. He let out a simple. "Oh?"

Frowning, Cece lifted her phone and unceremoniously put the hat back on her head. She batted her eyelashes, then rolled her eyes. "Exciting, isn't it?"

Leaning forward to place his hands on the edge of the bar, Bob's voice was softer. "A great way to improve their image though." As soon as he said it, he cursed himself in his head at how ridiculous it sounded. He could feel the beads of sweat forming on the back of his neck and waited for Cece's disgusted reaction. She just stared at him for a few seconds with her piercing brown eyes and tilted her head. A moment later, she reached up to take the hat off and placed it back on the counter, only this time she didn't try to hide it under her phone. Running her hands through her hair, she pushed the long strands behind her ears. When Bob tentatively smiled at her, she gave a small smile back.

Bob cleared his throat, shaking his head. "Anyway. I guess most bars kinda suck anyway, right?"

Cece nodded, laughing. She lifted up her glass and tipped it towards him. "I'll drink to that." Her eyes locked on his as she sipped her drink, until he broke the gaze and took a step back. Hearing a customer calling for him on the other side of the bar, he nodded his head in their direction wordlessly. Cece tipped her glass to him again and smiled.

"Here's to it sucking just a little less tonight."

Bob smiled and nodded, before turning toward the other customer and walking away.


	2. Chapter 2

Wednesday, 1:03 pm.

Outside Dave parked his shopping cart next to the checkers game table in the park by the beach, and sat down on the bench. Reaching into the bright floral purse across his chest, he pulled out his action figure, Connor, and positioned him on the left side of the checker board. Crossing his arms in front of him, he squinted at his opponent across the table.

Tran glared straight into Dave's eyes.

"I know, I know." Dave brought his naked wrist to his face and shook his head, then pushed his glasses up his nose with his blackened index finger. "One o'clock."

Tran's gaze dropped to the table as he moved one of his black checkers forward on the board. A skateboarder rolled past them, jumping up to flip his board right next to Dave.

"Remember the excitement of a perfect 10 in figure skating?" He moved his red piece forward and pursed his lips. "Boy, those were the days."

Blinking three times, Tran slapped his fingers on the next piece and moved it forward.

Dave looked at the table and brought a hand to his chin, tapping his finger on his lips. A bee landed next to his action figure and Dave growled as he waved it away. "I want to care about bees dying, but they deserve it after interrupting Mulder and Scully's kiss."

Looking up at Tran, Dave raised his eyebrows and paused. Leaning forward, he whispered as he moved his next piece, eyes darting from side to side. "The truth is out there."

Tran started to lean forward, as if he were about to respond. Without moving his eyes from Outside Dave's, he made his next move before crossing his arms along the edge of the table.

Outside Dave looked down at the board, nodding. "Impressive." He turned toward the action figure. "Wouldn't you agree?" Pausing, as if waiting for a response, he moved his gaze to Tran and just nodded, eyebrows raised. "He still doesn't like you."

After a few careful glances around the board, Dave finally made his next move and scrunched up his mouth.

Tran glanced down at the board, skipping over two of the red pieces and snatching them in his fingers. Outside Dave gasped, letting out a shrill scream. "AHHHHHH. It's like they speak to you!"

Tran just smiled, nodding his head for Dave to take his next move. Glancing around, distracted, Dave's eyes fell on a man with a long ponytail. Dave nodded knowingly towards the man and Tran turned his head.

"I once dreamed I was Troy Polamalu's comb." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Silkyyyyyyyy."

Several more moves, and once again, Tran was winning the game. He moved one of his pieces to the back row of the board by Dave and nodded sharply.

Sighing, Dave placed a piece directly on top and looked back at Tran. "How exactly DO you pronounce Pho?"


End file.
